President Trump will nominate District of Columbia federal prosecutor Jessie Liu as the associate attorney general at the Department of Justice.
Liu, 46, will get the nod for the No. 3 position at the Justice Department, which involves defending the government in litigation, including the president’s decisions, the White House announced Tuesday. She will be the second woman and the first Asian-American to occupy the position, which was held from 1981 to 1983 by Trump’s personal attorney Rudy Giuliani.
A graduate of Harvard and Yale, she previously worked for the Justice Department under former President George W. Bush. Liu is married to Michael Abramowicz, a lawyer who also attended Yale Law School.
Liu is a prosecutor for D.C. at the nation’s largest U.S. attorney’s office, where she leads more than 300 prosecutors.
The position at the DOJ has been open since last year, when Rachel Brand left to take a top legal position at Walmart.
If confirmed, Liu will not be involved in the process surrounding special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election. In her current role, she is prosecuting Republican political consultant Roger Stone alongside the special counsel’s team.
Last month, Trump said he would nominate Deputy Transportation Secretary Jeffrey Rosen to replace Rod Rosenstein in the second-highest ranking DOJ position, deputy attorney general. Also in February, William Barr was confirmed as attorney general.
